Micah Kiljoy is a a native to Portland, OR and has spent the last two winters hitchhiking up and down the coasts of the United States. This is her second time in Mexico and first time participating in the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program. She spends most of her time reading, writing, knitting and taking pictures.
I have been in Mexico for three weeks, working as a volunteer for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), a nonprofit that hosts working and learning opportunities for those interested in sustainable living.
So far the results of my work have been taken well and appreciated. The seedlings that are growing in old chipped bowls on the windowsills seem to be healthy, and the weeding in the garden has resulted in a sudden growth of arugula.
The days that aren’t spent gardening have been extremely eventful. Just getting to the farm involves hitchhiking eight miles on a coal mining road. It’s a welcome shock to find myself in a truck with three cowboys who quickly jabber away in Spanish, a language I can read but my ear refuses comprehend.They drop me off on a side road where my farm host finds me wandering lost in a small forest. My host then leads a saddled horse that becomes my ride for the following three hours of dusk and then darkness through the mountains of the Sierra Madres.
Other events during off days have involved a three hour horse ride to the nearest store. This ride includes the new experience of getting clotheslined when the donkey I am riding takes my frantic pulls on the reigns as a suggestion instead of a command. Later in the ride we find ourselves in a lightning storm with thunder that echoes across the valley and back and lightning that strikes within an eighth of a mile, causing all the hair on our bodies to stand straight up. Later in the week there is a visit to the neighbor for eggs that finds us returning with two eggs and a wild boar skin we are currently trying to turn into buckskin.
Overall it has been a full adventure. I’m not sure where I’m going in three days when my stay here is finished. The possibility of working as a pottery apprentice with the ranch cowboy’s wife has its appeals. Or I could just go on to my next WWOOFing opportunity. Either way I know it will be something unexpected.
Latest posts by Guest
- Top 10 Things to do Ecuador - February 6th, 2012
- Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part III of III) - November 24th, 2011
- Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part II of III) - November 23rd, 2011
- Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part I of III) - November 22nd, 2011
- The Adventure Illusion or: how I learned to stop thinking and just ride a bike - November 12th, 2011
- Connecting the Least Connected (with people who can help!) - November 11th, 2011
- Quetzaltrekkers: Into the Clouds, Part 3 - July 5th, 2011
- Quetzaltrekkers: Into the Clouds, Part 2 - June 27th, 2011
- Quetzaltrekkers: Into the Clouds, Part 1 - June 20th, 2011
- A Guest Post by Carolyn Chuong: Mucu-what? - June 17th, 2011
